"Academy Chronicles Ch.5" by H. Coyne

The local color began to rouse one another from their chairs, whispering plots and encouraging Andre to take action. Andre quieted the tangle of voices with one great shout: "Oy!" He continued quickly, "We have a strange intruder in Plumwater. It looks to be a Poison Eater, but we must catch it to know for sure."

"It came in with the bard!"

Andre turned on Orelle. "Did it come with you? What is it?"

Orelle adopted a penitent voice, "It just joined us on the road. It is no companion of ours. As to what it is, I am unsure." A vision of Kennar turning away from her swelled in her thoughts, and her heart felt tight and hollow all over again. Fueled by this memory, Orelle continued, "I wanted to find out, though, so I pulled her hood." Her hand shook as she brought it to her cheek in feigned dismay, "If we had known . . ."

This display of vulnerable femininity satisfied the men.

Andre nodded, "Very well. It would do you good to not travel with strangers. Take that to heart lass." Orelle nodded obediently, and the men's attention turned elsewhere, to her relief.

Solorya and Alyssum traipsed down the stairs just as Andre began to address the crowd again. His voice boomed from the center of the room, "It can't have gone far. I want four groups, one for each wall of the village. Take torches. If you find it ring the assembly bell."

For just having been tipsy, the peasants were surprisingly alert as they marched out of the tavern. A few lingered, not caring what happened, or just plain too drunk to move.

Solorya watched the procession with a strange sense of foreboding. When most the men cleared out, Solorya began to ask questions, even though she was not looking forward to the answers.

"Orelle, where is our scout?"

"Ran off when I showed them her true nature. It would do her good to get her ego pricked a bit. Don't you think?"

Alyssum joined the discussion, "Why would having anything pricked be good? You mean pricked by thorns? Nobody likes thorns in my home Hidden Vale. My neighbor Dragmar would always have them around his house. Quite inconvenient when I wanted to visit for a little chat."

Solorya charged in again, "What do you mean Orelle?"

"They saw she was part Dark Eldar and went off to chase her. I think a night in the stocks will cool her down a bit. I bet she'll be much more pleasant after a little taste of her own medicine."

A bawdy laugh belched from an especially soused patron, "The stocks? That's rich lassie. After a tale like yewrs, the blood will be hot. She'll be strung up tomorrow, or maybe burnt. They did that with the last werewÉ"

Orelle cut him off, "They're going to kill her?!"

"No, just poke her til she bruises." He chuckled morbidly, "What else did you 'spect? If that's a Poison Eater then it can and should be killed under Kinath creed. We just speed up the process around here by nixin the trial."

Orelle blanched a good seven shades whiter, and felt suddenly unsteady on two feet.

Alyssum was starting to grasp what was going on, "I don't think this is good Orelly. Even, though, I do like a good bonfire." She looked to Solorya, "Think there will be cider?"

The hind began to stutter, "I- I didn't think it would go that far."

Solorya's retort was hot, "By swords! Did you think at all?" Her features were furrowed in anger and annoyance.

"They've never seen an Eldar before, nonetheless one that looks like a Poison Eater!" Her voice lost a little edge, "These aren't the humans you're used to, Orelle."

Solorya gripped her pendant and set her jaw, "Get your cloaks. We're going to try the impossible and find her first."

~*~

Night colored everything blue black and gray. Thatched roofs and simple gardens all blurred into a dark sea in Mykalah's peripheral vision. She was fast, but not High Eldar fast, so her current strategy of running away would last for only so long.  The back of her throat was parched and her lungs ached with each swelling breath. She felt she would breathe fire and not air if she kept up her pace.

Where to hide? The forest was miles away with only clear flatlands for crops between. She scanned the dark, waiting for her eyes to dilate. The evening was suddenly brighter as the Poison Eater blood shifted her vision, but she knew and feared that her vision was not the only aspect that would alter.

~*~

By morning the Poison Eater had been found and chained at the wrist to an iron post in the public square. She strained to be as far from the pole as possible and had wrapped torn bits of her tunic around her wrist before the manacle was fastened on her. The bright morning and snatches of sleep had sobered many of Andre's men. The Poison Eater looked smaller in the daylight, but that did not dissuade the villagers from keeping a wide berth. A hastily painted sign cautioned approach at your own risk.

The captive Mykalah sulked, as she walked herself in slow circles around the pole.

"Worthless hind, worthless town, worthless project. All Kinath is worthless!"

Her appointed guard stared at her, only to be assaulted with, "And don't think that excludes you simpleton!"

With that last verbal thrash, Mykalah sat on the ground. Her back was straight and her eyes sparking.

Three bedraggled figures came close, assuming all the risk the sign warned. Their cloaks were crumpled and their faces smudged with maybe soot or dirt. Alyssum even sported some twigs in her tangled hair.

"Tiar. Looks like the forest spit you up."

Solorya crossed her arms and answered, "Real funny, Mykalah. We were out all night and morning looking for you."

"Ah, what luck. I'm chained to a pole. No chance I'll wander off now."

Orelle came closer, her sincere words tumbling out in a rush, "I thought they'd just humiliate you. Nothing to this scale. I wanted to be recompensed, not utter havoc. I'm sorry, I didn't know they'd react so."

"Well they did 'react so'! Is there a brain beneath that flounce of hair?" The apologetic hind mumbled, "No need to get mean."

"No need to get mean? They threw things at me! Not even soft things like rotten fruit. That would be a blessing! But large blunt objects! The range of some of their throwsÉ Oh and let's not forget that I'm going to be tossed into bonfire, or maybe just kept around for display."

Orelle looked away from the Eldar's blazing stare.

"In light of the circumstances, Orelle, I find this the perfect moment to get mean!"

Solorya tried to comfort Mykalah, "We're going to get you out of here. There's a visiting nobleman, we saw the carriage. We'll talk him into letting you go. He'll know you're not full Poison Eater."

Alyssum added helpfully, "And if we don't get you out before the bonfire, I promise to save you some cider."

Mykalah's expression went flat, "Alice, you have a knack for brightening the situation."

 Alyssum grinned, "See, Sol. She just needed a little pep talk."

Orelle had finished her moment of feeling wounded and returned to the conversation, "All will be well. We are still in Kinath, a proper civilization. And worse case scenario, we'll contact the Academy. We'll just have to stall until they get here to save Mykalah from the mess she got into."

"The mess I got into?"

Orelle answered calmly, "Well, if you weren't part Poison Eater, and if the Poison Eaters didn't decimate a fourth of Kinath's peoples, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

The chain jerked violently as Mykalah made a lunge for Orelle's face. Her open hand struck the hind's cheek with stinging force.

The hind winced, placing her hand to her face, "For the trouble I have given you. I will allow you that."

"Then I take this." The back of Mykalah's hand struck the other cheek. She spat the rest of her phrase, "Without your allowance."

Alyssum's little voice repeated nervously, "Not good. Not good."

Mykalah drew back slightly as Solorya stepped in between the two and said, "By swords that's Enough! Orelle, you are the principle cause for this mess. The fault is with you." Solorya's voice took on a gentler tone, "But, Mykalah, you're not helping matters. No one wants anything to go wrong here. Even Orelle. So allow us some leeway as we try to figure things out."

Neither Mykalah nor Orelle said a word, but promptly looked away from each other.

"Well then." Solorya said, "Time to get to work."